Canadian ownership in domestic oil and gas grows as foreign interest wanes

For the past 70 years, there has been substantial foreign investment in the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry. This is due, in part, to the fact that only 20 per cent of the world’s oil reserves are open to private development and half of those reserves are in Canada.

Foreign investment in the country’s oil and gas industry has ebbed and flowed with the shifting forces of economic nationalism. More recently, investment capital has left due to the industry’s lack of competitiveness, relative to opportunities...